Orthodox Churches

On Saturday, the 13th/26th of July 2014, the memory of the Prophet Elias the Thesbite was commemorated in advance at the Church dedicated to him in the area of Maaloule, a suburb of Nazareth.

The Church of the Prophet Elias used to belong to the Arab-speaking Community of the Patriarchate which abandoned its seat upon the foundation of the state of Israel, in 1948. Since then, the area has been a military base. In recent years, the Patriarchate, mainly through the actions of Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth and Archimandrite Hilarion, the Abbot at the Monastery of Tabor, went on to restore, renovate and reopen it.

On July 26, 2014, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II visited His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East at his residence in Damascus.

His Holiness discussed with His Beatitude the latest developments concerning the abducted bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji. Moreover, Patriarch Aphrem II told Patriarch John X on the proceedings and outcome of the meeting he convened at Atchaneh on the situation of the Christians of Mosul. In particular, they discussed the invitation to a meeting of the Patriarchs to work together and raise a united voice which carries the demands for all Christians in the Middle East.

On July 27, 2014, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk spoke at the closing of the GAIDPARK-2014 summer debate camp at Vinogradovo near Moscow. The event was organized by the Yegor Gaidar Foundation, a non-commercial organization, in cooperation with the Polytechnic Museum.

Since July 20, over one hundred university post-graduates from various cities in Russia have attended lectures given by prominent experts in economics, sociology genetics and urbanistics and held debates on the future of the individual, society, city and civilization.

As the organizers asked Metropolitan Hilarion find a way to motivate students for making the right choice of their profession and lifestyle he spoke first about his own experience and motive for joining the Church. “At a certain stage in one’s life one comes to face a dilemma between a life for the good of others and a life for one’s own self. Paradoxically as it may seem, those who do not spare themselves for the sake of others, giving themselves, their material resources, their intellectual and spiritual abilities for the welfare of other people, feel happy. They give without losing anything, and the more they give the more they gain. As Christ said, ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and, and all these things shall be added to you’”, he said.

On 26 July 2014, feast day of the Synaxis of Archangel Gabriel, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, officiated at the Divine Liturgy at the Moscow Representation of the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel.

On Sunday morning, July 27, 2014, His All-Holiness presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George commemorating the Feast of St. Panteleimon, during which the consecration of Metropolitan Maximos (Vgenopoulos) of Selyvria took place.

Also concelebrating were Metropolitans Amfilohije of Montenegro, John of Pergamon, Meliton of Philadelphia, Ignatios of Demetrias, Pavlos of Glyfada, Chrysostomos of Patra, Stefanos of Kallioupolis and Madytos, and Athenagoras of Kydonies, as well as Bishop Maxim of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Western American Diocese and Archbishop Makarios of Qatar.

On Sunday, the 30th of June/13th of July 2014, the feast of the Gathering of the Twelve Holy Apostles was celebrated at the Holy Monastery dedicated to them, near the Western shore of the Tiberian sea, at the centre of the present-day big Israeli city of Tiberias.

At the church of the Monastery, which preserves many of the building components of the ancient church which is linked to the Lord’s miracle, namely His appearance before His disciples after the Resurrection, when He instructed them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat (John 21, 6) and then eat from the fish and bread that lay on the coal (John 21, 9), which constitutes the evangelical excerpt of the 10thEothinon Gospel of Sundays – His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, led the Matins and Divine Liturgy. Co-officiating were the Most Reverend Kyriakos, Metropolitan of Nazareth and Hieromonks from nearby Monasteries of the Patriarchate. Cantors from neighbouring communities sang, while Greek pilgrims and Russian-speaking and Arab-speaking faithful participated in piety.